Killing the Secret (13 page)

The reporter was persistent. “How can you be sure it wasn’t terrorists?”

“There’s no way to be completely sure,” Sarah continued. “I do know there was a murder investigator on that flight. At this point in time, I believe she was getting too close to a killer, so he tried to get rid of her permanently.”

“Whose murder?” Excitement was evident in the reporter’s voice.

“Not talking about that now,” Sarah said firmly. “This is a theory, with some back-up proof, but time will tell.”

“Are you saying some lowlife thief saved the lives of over a hundred passengers because he stole a bomb?” Now the reporter sounded elated.

“That’s what I think, but as I said, time will tell.”

Lexie turned off the radio. Her arms and legs moved in short stiff jerks. She opened her mouth to let in more air. Crossing her arms tightly in front of her chest, she gripped her shoulders trying to control her body. The faces of Connie, Larry, and the toddler flashed in her mind and how close she’d come to getting them all killed.

“My God, that was your flight?! The sonofabitch tried to blow you up!” Tyes’ desk rattled as he pounded the surface with both hands.

Lexie pressed Sarah’s number into the phone. “I heard,” she said as she tried to control the tremble in her voice.

“He’s obviously very angry,” Sarah cautioned, “or he wouldn’t have gone to this extreme. You need to be on constant vigil.”

“I will.” Lexie’s hand squeezed the receiver.

“As I find out more, I’ll get the info to you. This has to get solved as soon as possible. Be careful,” Sarah warned.

“Yes,” Lexie agreed as she hung up the phone.

“I never thought I’d say these words, but thank God for a thief.” Tye reached over and squeezed her arm.

Lexie felt her body gradually return to near normal with the exception of the relentless pain in her head. Maybe changing the subject would lessen the pressure.

“D…D…Did you get an invitation to your high school reunion?” she stuttered.

“I did a couple of days ago. How’d you know that?”

“Mariah told me she was coming. I just don’t know about this. It’s like sending an engraved invitation to a murderer.”

“Beth sent out the invitations,” Tye said. “I asked her if she thought it was the thing to do under the circumstances. She wanted to finish Abbey’s project.”

“I guess the advantage is we’ll get all the players here at the same time. I just don’t know how we’ll be able to keep Jamie, Beth, Mariah, and Loretta safe.”

“…and you,” Tye added. “Did Mariah have any ideas on why someone wanted to kill her team?”

“She said she wasn’t part of their clique, so she didn’t expect anyone who wanted to kill them would necessarily want to kill her.”

“Interesting, but probably is true. She was different from the others—more aloof, snobbish acting.”

“Mariah also said that Loretta got pregnant during their senior year and had an abortion. She thought the deaths might be related to that.”

“Wow. That would’ve brought on some ferocious Diffee gossip.” Tye’s forehead furrowed.

The door squeaked open to reveal Delia in her red-and-yellow flowered dress. “Welcome back, Lexie. Did Tye tell you I had a doctor’s appointment this morning?”

“No. I guess he forgot.”

“I’m guilty as charged,” he confessed.

“That’s a man for you. Why I never found me one.”

“The way Cecil looks at you, I think he’s yours for the asking,” Lexie said with a smile.

“Old Cecil’s better than most but he’d still be a lot of work.”

“I’m not going to argue with that.”

“Lexie, did you find out anything to help solve the murders?”

“Some help, but not enough. You’ll read it all when you type up my notes. I’m going over to the county jail to find out if Wilbur’s ready to talk.” Lexie headed for the door.

“He’s sure been anxious,” Delia replied. “He doesn’t seem to be enjoying his new home.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

“Wilbur Langley,” Lexie said as the guard escorted her into the visiting area. “What did you want to tell me?”

“This place is driving me nuts. I ain’t used to being cooped up all the time. I’m a woodsman. There are a lot of crazy men in here!”

“Probably loony because you fried their brains with drugs.”

“I’m ready to deal.” Wilbur’s voice was intense.

“Are you now? So here’s my problem. I don’t know what I’m dealing for.”

“Guess you just need to take a chance, Sheriff Girlie.”

“Now wouldn’t I look like a fool if I helped a known criminal and got nothing in return?”

“On the other hand, if you caught the murderer, people might not hate you quite so much.” The small balls of his eyes fixed on her.

“I have to know what you found, Wilbur, before I’ll help you. Anyway, it was raining, so whatever you got is likely useless.” Lexie stood up and started toward the door.

“No, don’t leave. You gotta help me.” He sounded desperate.”

“I don’t want to help you, Wilbur, unless you have a clue to the murderer.”

“It was under her body, so the rain didn’t hurt it. I’ll have to go with you. You won’t be able to find it.”

Lexie called the guard back. “I need to talk to the jailer.”

“I don’t know about this, Lexie,” Jailer Harris said. “We probably need to bring the judge in for this.”

“I’m just borrowing him, Harris. Remember, I brought him in. He says he can lead me to a clue in Abbey’s murder. I got to find out if he has anything.”

“Okay,” Harris growled, “but this is all on you if there’s a problem. Sign him out.”

Harris handcuffed Wilbur and walked him out to the patrol car. Lexie locked him to the bar across the back seat.

Lexie viewed Harris’ stiff stance as she turned the car out of the lot.

“Good to see the woods again.” Wilbur said as he breathed in deeply when they reached their destination.

Lexie pulled his arms behind him and cuffed the link from the bar onto his free hand. “Okay, Wilbur, lead the way. Remember, my gun is right behind you.”

He walked for at least twenty minutes making curves among the trees and large rocks.

“It’s here,” he hollered, pointing his chin toward an old saddlebag flung high in a tree.

She was going to have a long climb, so she started securing Wilbur around the trunk of a tree. She faced him toward the tree and opened the ring from his right wrist in order to pull his arm in a circle reaching back to his left wrist. In one quick move, he ripped his arm from her grasp and swirled around. The metal ring slapped against her neck as he pushed her to the ground. He took off running.

Struggling to her feet, she fired a shot to his right and started running in his direction. A few yards later he vanished into the underbrush. She stopped and waited for the sound of running steps on the ground, or the clank of the unsecured link, but there was nothing. She wandered aimlessly, hoping sound would give her a direction, but there was no luck.

I’ve got to turn back or I’ll lose the location of the pouch
. Tracking back to the site her mind dwelled on what a fool she’d been. Regardless, she needed to check the pouch to be positive. The bark bit her skin as she climbed up the tree. Stretching her arm at full length she finally was able to secure the bag in one hand and start the treacherous downward trip. Safe on the ground, she bent from her waist and forced herself to be still until the rapid beating of her heart subsided. Her hand reached inside the pouch and pulled out a small plastic bag with a hard object inside. Her momentary exhilaration depleted to zero. It appeared to be a long skinny tube of lip gloss.
What a joke I’ll be to Harris and the residents of Diffee. “Just like a woman—trading a drug dealer for lip gloss.” The rednecks will get a million laughs out of this.

She stopped by Gary King’s house on the way home. Megan answered the door. “Dad’s still at work.”

“You’re more likely to know the answer to this question than your Dad.” Lexie held the plastic bag open. “Did your Mom ever wear lip gloss like this?”

“No. She just used those fat tubes of lipstick.”

“Thanks,” Lexie nodded.

“Okay,” Megan said as she shut the door.

Lexie wondered at the girl’s lack of curiosity about the question. From the girl’s somberness, it appeared that depression may have set in as a result of her Mom’s death.
One more thing to feel guilty about.

Back at her office, Lexie immediately processed the tube for prints and there, as big as life, was a thumb and a fingerprint. Abbey’s fingerprints and DNA were taken before she was buried. She pulled copies of Abbey’s prints from her folder. An expert at fingerprints she was not, but these two clearly did not match.

Allowing herself to have hope was ridiculous considering who she was dealing with. Even if Wilbur was telling the truth, for a change, it didn’t mean that someone else didn’t drop the tube in the woods. Suddenly, a horrible thought crossed her mind.
Could these be Wilbur’s prints?
She pulled his folder out—more fearful of looking at the prints than she was of facing Harris and the judge. Her breath came out in one long huff as she determined the prints were not his either. Now it was time to go face Harris.

“Where is he?” Harris’ voice resonated through the third floor jail as soon as her foot hit the top step.

“He got away when I was handcuffing him to a tree.”

“Why the hell Diffee was stupid enough to elect a woman sheriff I’ll never figure out!” Harris shouted his final words: “This is your ass—not mine!”

“I’m certainly willing to take the responsibility.” Lexie’s voice was as smooth as vinyl.

A clerk peered around the corner. Lexie assumed the woman wanted to obtain firsthand visual confirmation of the fighters before she started the gossip chain. Workers stared at her as she walked down the hall and descended the steps. She heard prisoners cheering as she exited the building. One of their own escaped, thanks to her.

As she trudged down the sidewalk someone behind her patterned her steady footsteps.

“Sheriff Wolfe.” Adam’s long strides easily caught up with her. “I heard the jailer yelling at you. What’s going on?”

Lexie didn’t slow but the long-legged boy had no difficulty equaling her pace. “Wilbur Langley escaped when he was in my custody.”

“Why did you take him out?”

“Because he told me he hid something that he found at the scene of Abbey’s murder. I took him with me to recover the object. I was re-handcuffing him when he broke away.”

“That what the mark on your neck is from?”

“Yes.”

“Did you recover the object?”

“Yes, I did.” Lexie slowed.

He shortened his stride. “What was it?”

“Can’t report on that yet but I’ll keep you informed.” Her steps quickened.

“You never keep me informed.” Adam let his professional demeanor and his gait lapse.

“Good-bye, Adam. It’s time for me to head home.” She gave a modified wave and hoped the kid wouldn’t come after her again.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Lexie startled from sleep when the newspaper hit her front door with even more vengeance than usual. Curious to see if Adam vented his anger through his story, she retrieved the paper and sat at the kitchen table drinking her coffee. There it was, of course. FOUND AND LOST was the headline. It started with, “Sheriff Lexie Wolfe nabbed a notorious drug dealer a few days ago only to lose him yesterday when he escaped back into the woods.”

The paragraphs continued with Lexie’s brief comments from the night before and a recap of Abbey’s murder. The article ended with “the murderer is still at large.” Adam was fair. He even mentioned her neck injury, perhaps as a means to verify that she didn’t give up easily. Maybe she would give the kid a break someday.

The day ahead was going to be tough. Delia scheduled interview times with Beth, Jamie, and Loretta. Lexie hoped they’d give their fingerprints and DNA without subpoenas. Mariah would likely be the easiest one to check since she was overseas when her Dad was on military duty. It was a pain to think about a trip back to Washington to request the prints herself. She sure didn’t want to ask the hunk for any help. Finally, she berated herself to stop thinking and take a shower.

Within an hour she was standing beside her desk watching Beth come in the door. Tye pulled the old table out for them to sit around. Delia fidgeted with the pen that was about to record hours of information.

“Thanks for coming, Beth,” Lexie said.

The legs scraped the floor when Beth pulled out the chair. She wore a long sleeved, high-collared navy dress. Her hair was swept back into a bun. Her straight back and set mouth didn’t soften as Lexie began the interview.

“I was surprised to hear that you’re leading the reunion effort.”

“It’s for Abbey. She wanted us to honor Terri and I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t try.”

“Considering that you invited someone back who wants to kill you, I’m thinking you made a mistake,” Lexie drilled the words toward Beth.

“What makes you think I invited the killer back?”

“Heather left a phone message on the morning she died. She said an old friend from high school was coming to see her. Now she’s dead.”

Tye took the good cop role. “Beth just doesn’t seem the sort that anyone would want to murder.”

“Well, the murderer killed a woman almost dead from cancer,” Lexie responded. “So he doesn’t appear to have any limits on who he’s willing to kill.”

Beth’s body seemed to suddenly be stricken with a seizure. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have sent out the invitations, but I wanted to do one last thing for Abbey.”

“The best thing to do for Abbey is to help us find her killer. What did you see, or hear, or know, in high school that made someone think it was necessary to kill you?” Lexie questioned.

“Nothing,” Beth replied.

“There has got to be something or your friends wouldn’t be dying.” Lexie couldn’t keep the anger out of her voice.

“It’s not going to happen to me,” Beth said quietly. “I’m always good to people. Everyone knows that if I say I won’t tell a secret then I won’t.”